Debts and Debtors vs Trespasses

Anonymous asked:

Fr. Joseph,

Something I've been wondering: when we are praying together in Church we use the word(s) "trespasses" and "transgressions" in our psalms and many verses, and these words are used in scripture. I think that the Gospel reading that contains Christ's inauguration of the Lord's Prayer that we hear at St. Seraphim uses the word "trespasses." Why, then, do we use the words "debt" and "debtors" when we sing or chant the Lord's prayer here? I don't recall hearing the word "debt" in our hymnography used nearly (if at all) as much as "trespass," "transgression," or "sin." In our culture's mind a "debt"is something that can be "repaid" and thus taken care of. A transgression, or a trespass, or a sin, cannot be repaid. It must be forgiven. It seems to me that translating the prayer using "debt" minimizes the magnitude of the act of contrition. I realize that the actual meaning of the word "debt" is greater than our usual understanding, but we still are in this world and speak this language, and it has a certain definition. Would you help me understand this?

Dear Anonymous,

Being from “out west and up north” all my life, the use of the words “debts” and “debtors” and not “trespasses” is something that I too am getting use to. In conversations with Vladika I have come to have a better understanding of the original use of the words in Greek.

The Orthodox Church has always used the Matthew version of the Lord's Prayer (Mt. 6:9-13) and not the Luke version. In the Matthew version, verse 12, the word “opheilema” is used which is translated as “debt". Later on in Mt. 6:15, the Lord uses the word “paratoma” which is translated as “trespasses.” So in the original Greek, there is a distinction being made between the two words and thus to use trespasses for both in English is not as precise.

According to His Eminence in his book The Kingdom of God – The Sermon on the Mount, pages 83-85 he writes,

“Debts” is used to refer to all kinds of transgressions, since the word implies obligations both to God and to our fellow man, debts of behavior and feeling that we have failed to pay. (If it be argued that in modern speech “debts” usually has to do with money, it could also be pointed out that “trespasses” usually means violations of property rights.)

He goes on to say that later on when the Lord teaches His disciples about forgiveness in Mt. 6:14-15, the Lord uses the word "paratoma" which is translated as "trespass." In that context the word "trespass" is defined as a false step, or a lapse or a slip.

You are correct in stating that forgiveness is at the center of the question. His Eminence insists that the word debt as understood in the Greek has a much wider scope and context and is a better word, even if it has a certain connotation in modern use.

So in saying the Lord's Prayer with "debt," we are really saying, "forgive me (Father) for all those things I have thought, said, or done or not thought, said or done toward my brother as opposed to "forgive me (Father) for all my false steps, lapses and slips toward my brother.

Hope this helps.